NAEB Newsletter (April 1, 1938)

2 . ) FGG INVESTIGATION BEGINS The Federal Communications Commission has recently decided to investigate charges of monopoly in radio broadcasting. Broadcasting has contained information on the action of the Commission. Now, if you haven’t done so already, read what the cur¬ rent issue of Education by Radi o has to say about it. EBS AND BROADCASTS VIA ¥ 0 I - W S U I ¥01, Ames, Iowa, is planning to erect a "beverage” antenna for reception of WSUI and thereby solve part of the summer static trouble. At present, these two sta¬ tions are exchanging about 10 hours of programs each week. BUILDING A CONCENTRIC TRANSMISSIONJLINE Those who heard John Doak, University of Illinois, tell about the newly built transmission line of WILL at the NAEB convention last fall, may soon find the data in print. COMMUNICATIONS has accepted an article based on the paper lor publication: SOME NOTES ON THE USE OF PHONOGRAPH RECORDS Editor's Note - This is the second in a series of articles by Professor F. S. Siebert, J.D., University of Illinois School of Journalism, on copyright which will appear in the NAEB NEWS LETTER: The March 1, 1938 issue of the NAEB NEWS LETTER presented the opinion of Orland S. Loomis, Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin, on the matter of restricting the use of phonograph records on the air. The matter had been brought up by the RCA-Victor Manufacturing Company. Mr. Loomis's opinion was that the restriction w Not licensed for radio broadcast," when placed upon a record, was no valid re¬ striction and therefore could be disregarded by broadcasting stations, and particu¬ larly by those broadcasting stations which were not operated for profit. The opinion of Mr. Loomis did not make it clear that the present copyright act, although it includes musical compositions, does not extend to mechanical records of these compositions. When a composer seeks a copyright on his musical composition, he can restrain the use of this composition by a record manufacturer, but when the record manufacturer secures the permission of the author and complies with the arrangements made with the author, a record of this composition cannot be copyright¬ ed under the present copyright act. This means that any restriction made by the manufacturer on the use of the record is invalid. However, the copyright act, when complied with, prohibits the use of a musical composition "for profit" so that the original copyright of the composer is carried over to the record and prohibits the use of the record when performed for profit as a violation of the original copy¬ right . Record manufacturers have made appearances at several congressional hearings at which recommendations for amendments to the present copyright act were discussed. The manufacturers were unanimous in their request for a copyright in the particular rendition or interpretation. Such an amendment, however, has not yet been adopted by Congress. The present status of the use of musical records for broadcasting purposes is this: Where the musical composition itself has not been copyrighted, there can be no re¬ striction of any kind on the use of a record made from this composition. Where, however, the original composition has been copyrighted and the record manufacturer has secured permission of the composer to make a record, such record can be used only where the performance is "not for profit."